The 2020/21 crop year continues to move in the right direction in Spain, with olive oil sales in October and November increasing by 1.8 percent compared with the same period in the previous year.
According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, a total of 293,900 tons of olive oil were sold in the first two months of the current crop year.
See Also:Olive Oil Business NewsGrowing demand in Spain’s domestic market, which has been partially fueled by stay-at-home orders during the Covid-19 pandemic, compensated for the slight drop off in exports.
Overall, domestic sales grew by 18.7 percent (reaching 111,2000 tons) in the first two months of the current crop year, compared to the previous one, and sit 36 percent higher than the average of the first two months of the previous four crop years.
Exports, on the other hand, have slowed considerably as the pandemic has complicated transportation logistics and brought the restaurant and hospitality sector grinding to a halt.
In the first two months of 2020/21, Spain has exported 182,700 tons, down by 6.3 percent compared to the same period last year. Olive oil imports have also increased, rising to 38,400 tons from an average of 23,475 tons over the previous four years.
All of this comes on the back of what is expected to be a bumper harvest in Spain, with an estimated production of nearly 1.6 million tons.
In the first two months of 2020/21, Spain has already produced 279,300 tons, according to the ministry, an increase of 31 percent compared to the same time last year, in which a total of 1.125 million tons were produced.
In spite of the bumper harvest, olive oil ending stocks have also decreased compared to the previous crop year, with 515,000 tons in storage compared to 700,000 tons for the same months in 2019/20.
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